Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said Johannes Mehserle was set free early Monday from the county jail where he served his time after his high-profile trial was moved to Southern California. A judge ruled Friday that Mehserle should be given credit for time served and good conduct.

Mehserle, 29, was convicted last July of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Grant, 22, on a Bay Area Rapid Transit train station platform in Oakland on New Year's Day 2009.

Mehserle was responding to a fight on the train platform and was angry the 22-year-old Grant resisted arrest. Grant was laying prostate and handcuffed when he was shot in the back by Mehserle, who claims he "accidentally" drew his .40 caliber handgun instead of his Taser.

The jury acquitted Mehserle of the more serious charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. Eight women and four men sat on the jury, none of whom were black.

Small "riot" erupts at Taste of Chicago as restless crowd awaits Trey Songz. " Five people waiting in line for the concert were treated for
heat-related illnesses and multiple ambulances [were] dispatched. As the jammed throng grew increasingly agitated before a line of mounted
police, one Chicago policeman muttered, 'There’s a
riot going on.'"

Former San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles for shooting unarmed black man Oscar Grant on New Year's Day 2009 at an Oakland BART station. Prosecutors had sought a stronger conviction of second-degree murder.

Mehserle was convicted on Thursday afternoon of involuntary manslaughter, the least serious of the three charges he faced. The jury's verdict included a gun-crime sentencing enhancement, which carries the possibility of additional jail time. Grant's family remained firm in their belief that Mehserle's actions that night constituted murder. They voiced concerns that the jury acted too swiftly--there were dozens of pieces of evidence and five cell phone videos from that night to review during the short time jurors deliberated. Grant's uncle Johnson said that the verdict was far too quick for the seriousness of the charges.

"We recognize as African Americans, the system is rarely fair when police officers are involved in the shooting of African American males," the Grant family's attorney, John Burris said. "This is another example of that." Burris, who is representing the Grant family in a $25 million civil suit against BART, argued nonetheless that today's verdict was also historic. "In my long history being involved in police matters since 1979 and well over 30 homicides with police, never have I had a case when a police officer was convicted of any crime against an African American male."

Mehersle was responding to a fight on the subway platform and was angry the 22-year-old Grant resisted arrest. Grant was laying prostate and handcuffed when he was shot in the back by Mehersle, who claims he "accidentally" drew his .40 caliber handgun instead of his Taser.

Eight women and four men sat on the jury, none of whom listed their race as black. The sentencing will be August 6. Mehersle faces a maximum sentence of four years.

Oakland PD officers are in seen in riot formation next to a mural of Oscar Grant below. Watch raw video and reports, as well as the original news report (warning: graphic) of the shooting WHEN YOU JUMP ...

06 June 2010

A porn actor accused of fatally attacking a co-worker and wounding two others during a violent rampage with a samurai sword died on Saturday after he jumped 40 feet off a cliff.

Stephen Clancy Hill acted under the name Steve Driver and his resume included a role as Barack Obama in the adult political spoof Palin: Erection 2008. Hill jumped to his death when police used a stun gun to subdue him after a dramatic, daylong cliffside standoff in which he threatened to kill himself with a samurai sword.

KABC-TV video of the incident showed Hill moving to the edge of the
outcropping from a seated position and then letting himself drop as
police closed in on him. SWAT officers had spent part of Saturday afternoon trying to talk
Hill down from the hillside as he clutched a sword. It was unknown
whether the sword was the murder weapon in Tuesday's deadly attack at a
DVD production center that also left two people injured.

Hill,
34, fled to the Chatsworth neighborhood hillside after leaving a house
where he was barricaded for most of Saturday. Murder and attempted
murder charges had been filed against Hill Friday after Eric Jover, who
runs the Ultima DVD production house, offered a $2,000 reward on the
company's website for information leading to his arrest.

Hill
attacked a colleague with a sword that was used as a film prop during a
social gathering at Ultima's studios about a week after being told he
was being fired and that he would have to move out of the production
facility, where he had been living, authorities said. He then turned on two others who rushed to their co-worker's defense.
One of those who attempted to help, Herbert Hin Wong, 30, was killed in
the attack.

Whether Hill died from being tasered, the fall or possibly landing on
the sword is under investigation, reports KNBC.

The troubled porn actor had a history of assault and threats. In 1999, Hill was convicted of assault with a firearm for threatening to
kill a University of Maryland college professor for not giving him an
"A". The Los Angeles Times reports: "Hill allegedly told the instructor he was 'a mobster and would dismember
the instructor's body if he didn't get the grade.' During the trial,
Hill testified that he threatened to kill the instructor after the
teacher requested oral sex, which the instructor denied."